Running the Tricksters Trail
by UrbanShaman
Summary: Prince Loki of Jotunhiem is forced to flee his kingdom at the risk of his life. When a spell meant to save him ends up backfiring, Loki finds himself among the warriors of Asgard, in a body as alien to him as these strangers brutal and wild lifestyle. Norse/Marvel Universe crossover-AU with the Norse Pantheon as Centaurs. Will be mature/nsfw and contain mpreg in later chap
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One – Running Blind**

Things had gotten gravely out of hand and, like always, it was all HIS doing!

Loki leaned forward over the swiftly bobbing neck of his galloping mount, trying desperately to make their bodies more streamlined as her powerful legs raced them across open grassland, charging away from the only place they had both called home since birth! The dark mare's nostrils flared and her ribcage rose and fell like great bellows between Loki's legs as fear drove her blindly onward. Loki tried to keep his eyes clear of the stinging lash of her mane in his face, but he didn't care WHERE she carried him so long as it was away from Jotenhiem and the horrendous monsters that had invaded.

When the young Prince had heard of the great Frost Giants of the north, he thought that surely they must be large, dumb, lumbering things that would make an easy target for his mischievous sport of goading and practical magic… but OH how he'd misjudged their wit and strength! How he'd brought down ruin to his home and people over his foolish trickery!

Jotunheim now lay in the dust kicked up by his faithful Sigyn's frantic hoof beats, smoldering after a night of ice and fire ravaged it's once glorious stronghold; the giants having merely toyed with them! All their magic could not hold the enemy's strength and numbers off for long, and now…

Now Loki was fleeing for his life… not knowing if his kin lived or if he were the only one left.

As Sigyn's pace became uneven and her breathing faltered, Loki leaned up and reined her in to a halt, feeling her quiver on unsteady legs as she bowed her sleek head and graceful neck to gasp for breath, white froth smeared along her chest and withers from the hard run. Loki knew she was truly the finest horse he'd ever owned, and by far the swiftest… but this had run her too hard too fast and he ached with the regret of having had to push her for both their sakes. He slid off her back; his royal robes of emerald and gold satin sticking to his sweat slicked skin; moving to crouch before his mounts lovely dark head, gently cupping her warm, round cheeks and stroking them up to her ears and along her neck, hoping to comfort and sooth her.

'Easy now, my dearest… There is only smoke behind us now…'

He whispered in his native tongue, pressing his brow against his mares and closing his eyes at the sting of bitter regret threatening tears. He continued to hold her for a short time, feeling her warm, moist breath lightly puff against his chest as she recovered; the damp velveteen softness of her nose lightly bumping him as she made to lift her head and look around. He stood with her, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings and furrowing his brow. Loki had ridden to many corners of his kingdom, but never this far… They stood at the edge of an ancient forest with high mountains looming beyond, the snowcapped peaks looking like a great, wondrous palace, shining even in the fading evening light. The young Prince frowned a bit, gripping Sigyn's reigns in one hand and feeling his core vibrate as if silent thunder was rolling across the land, straight through his body. He thought the rumbling feeling was coming from the forest itself until Sigyn's head jerked up higher and turned to look behind them, her slender ears pricked forward and nostrils flaring. Loki always trusted her keen instinct, often even above his own, and tensed, looking behind them in the fading light.

What he had initially thought to be only the smoldering smoke that marked the destruction of his home in the distance was now more clearly a dust trail! They were being followed and the giants were gaining fast!

Cursing his rotten soul and damnable luck, Loki launched himself onto his horse's bare back, his legs hugging her sides as he roughly pat her neck and shoulder.

'Forgive me, Sigyn, but for gods sake and our own, RUN!'

The mare reared up with a frightened whinny, her dark hooves lashing at the air before she leapt into another ground eating gallop, driving headlong into the looming trees before them and weaving among their massive trunks and kicking up the heavy underbrush.

The sound of the pursuing band of giants grew more ominous as they too crashed into the forest, the heavy thudding of their massive bodies running hard on the heels of the fleeing prince echoing through the dense woods and driving both Loki and his mount into a panicked frenzy, both horse and rider's chests near to bursting with their quickened breaths. Their blind zig-zag around trees abruptly ended at the edge of a cliff and the drumming of fast flowing water beating its trail through the canyon below. Loki gasped, pulling back hard on Sigyn's reins to keep her from dashing headlong over the edge. He looked back towards the sound of the approaching giants, noticing that the heavy rooted trees formed a natural barrier between forest and cliff, but he doubted even these ancient redwoods could hold back a mob of angry Frost Giants for long. Tired of being chased and having too few options left, the Jotun prince narrowed his eyes and turned Sigyn to face the forest and the threat crashing ever closer. The mare whinnied in protest and fear, but he forced her to stand their ground as he began chanting in the runic tongue of his people. If these giants were so focused on following him this far, he'd end their trail right here! He was a master of transformation spells and he'd turn them into boulders or trees themselves just to spite them!

His chanting grew stronger as an unworldly glow spread across his hands, his eyes narrowing as he finally saw those who had taken everything from him that night in a mere show of power. It was one thing to take a pranksters jokes poorly… it was another entirely to slaughter his people over it. The giants slammed against the heavy trees that barred their access to the scrawny 'human' they hunted, the thick wood moaning and creaking as it was splintered and cracked under heavy blows. Loki knew he had minutes at best before the natural barrier collapsed and left him an open target.

The furious giants bellowed and pushed harder at the trees, reaching their large muscular arms and meaty hands through the trunks to try and grab at Loki, Sigyn dancing nervously on her nimble hooves and backing up against the very precipice of the cliff, snorting and making worried noises in her throat. When they realized they could not fully reach their prize, the giants too began to murmur among themselves, a glowing orb of blue-white ice forming in their hands.

It was now or never, a race of spells and swift tongues. Loki's chanting grew fast, his tongue slipping over the runes he knew like names of everyone he'd once loved. With pain and hatred in his eyes, he blasted his magic from his hands, slamming the spell into the face of every giant he could see and reveling in their shocked and anguished howls as their bodies began to change against their will, binding them in the solid forms of wood and stone. Feeling satisfaction and retribution burn in him like a glowing flame, Loki did not see the blast of ice coming straight at him from a giant behind the initial line of those now changed until it was too late to stop it.

His hands shifted instinctually to cover himself in a defensive posture, his magic still flowing and smashing into the approaching ice, managing to deflect it. What he couldn't predict, however, was the ricochet of his own spell straight back at him! Sigyn reared up with a scream of alarm, forcing Loki to wrap his arms tightly around her neck and hang on perilously as the dark mare lost her footing from the blinding explosion of ice meeting green fire, both mare and prince toppling helplessly over the edge and down into the frothing abyss below…

Loki had never known fear and pain and cold as he had when he fell from the cliff to his death in the icy, dark waters below. His mind had simply taken leave of his body as the waters pulled him under, abandoning him to drown in his own misery and failings. It was a rightful punishment for all his tricks… for all he had cost his people over something so foolish as his pride… Death was not something he could avoid forever, and so he embraced the cold and the dark, letting it take him to his icy tomb at the bottom of the river.

…Or so he had thought…

He awoke slowly, in small breaths and the growing ache of many bruised muscles. His head felt heavy and waterlogged, his body was sprained and laying at an all too awkward angle, like his spine was arched back a bit too far. But he was dry… even warm. It felt as though something was draped over him like a blanket. It was heavy and musky smelling, tinged with sweat and a distinctively 'animal' aroma. He could also smell the acrid, but not entirely unpleasant smell of a fire nearby, his ears picking up its soothing pop and crackle as his head cleared and his other senses slowly came back to him. His green eyes opened slowly, the lids feeling so very heavy and his vision still blurry, but he could make out shadow forms that at first looked like oddly shaped trees and stones, but as his hearing cleared faster than his eyes did, he realized the 'stones' were speaking to each other in low, thickly accented voices.

Grasping that he was either in an enchanted forest—unlikely, but not impossible with the things he'd seen in his travels-or more likely that he was not alone made Loki stiffen with fear that these large forms were in fact more Frost Giants that had pulled him from the river to continue torturing him! And what of his poor beloved Sigyn?! Had the river claimed her as he'd assumed it had taken him? Had she survived only to be killed and eaten by these savage beasts?!

The thought suddenly drove his body into a blind rage of fury and self-preservation. Loki leapt up from where he'd been lying in dry pine needles and leaf litter, standing rigid and ready to fight as he faced off against his most hated foes. The adrenaline in his system sharpened his vision in a fraction of a second but left him startled and bewildered at the sight before him.

Where he'd expected to see a small circle of giants, instead there was a band of several brawny, shirtless men staring at him with equal tension and perplexity, and even perhaps a bit of intrigue… Even so, they held weapons in hand, ready to defend themselves if needed. If that weren't enough of a shock, as Loki took them in, he realized they were not standing on two legs…but four. Four HORSE legs! These warriors were not men, they were centaurs! Loki had heard of them in his schooling of the various realms and races that lived in their world. These were Asgardians, the warrior stronghold of the Asgard kingdom… A wild and often ruthless group ruled by nothing short of the wild elements themselves!

Gasping in shock; not knowing what these large men might do to him; Loki turned to flee, pivoting in the loose underbrush in a sudden flurry and rushing to take several hasty steps that would send him into an all-out sprint through the woods only to find his feet tangled among themselves, tripping him up.

… All FOUR of them…!

-TBC-


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two- Baby Steps**

Loki let out a scream of confused terror as he tried to untangle his long equine legs from around themselves, his changed body crashing back down to the forest floor with a heavy thud that knocked the breath out of him. He trembled, nearly hyperventilating as his mind tried to process what had happened to him. He jolted as the shadows of the others fell over him, their stoic, handsome faces peering down at him as if he were some strange, never-before-seen oddity.

"I think this one's having a fit… Maybe she got knocked around in the river worse than we thought…" the larger one with long rusty red hair and a full beard murmured, his body thick and belly bulging, obviously a heavy eater. Even his muscular blood bay equine body was rotund around the middle.

"…You sure she's a she? Awfully flat up top if you ask me…" Another, slimmer male with short blond hair and well groomed facial hair tsked lightly, his buckskin body gleaming in the firelight.

The rounded stallion snorted and crossed his burly arms over his broad chest.

"Hmph! She may have nothing up top, but I KNOW a mare when I see one and she's most certainly a SHE!"

"Perhaps he's a geld? I've heard other clans do that to… well, 'useless males'… He doesn't look like a warrior to me. Hardly looks like he's even done any heavy labor in his life! Maybe he's kept as a pet, or for entertainment?" the blond mused and stroked his goatee thoughtfully as his eyes moved over Loki's body, but the dark red male only shook his head.

"A geld?! Has it been that long since you've been with a woman, Fandral?! No geld would look or SMELL like a mare!"

"Well I've never seen a mare missing her tits, alright?!"

The pair continued to bicker back in forth, their voices rising and heavy hooves stomping as they began bumping each other, trying to force the other to give ground. Loki remained laid out on his side, not fully understanding everything they were saying, their language foreign to him, and staring up at both in a baffled stupor. Whatever the cause for their argument, it was silenced as the third figure approached from where he'd been resting by the fire; the younger stallion obviously the leader of their band.

This Asgardian was truly impressive. A relatively young, well-bred man with broad shoulders, rippling muscles, and a halo-like mane of sun-spun hair that spilled around his face to brush the top of his back. His face was smoothly sculpted and elegant, strong jawed with rogue stubble and eyes so blue they mocked the clearest lakes Loki had ever come across. His equine form was equally well formed, the thick, heavy muscles of a draft breed covered in flaxen fur and tapering into golden-white feathers around his almost gargantuan hooves.

Loki felt himself swallow back the small awed noise that bubbled up from his throat. He'd never cared about the gender of his sexual conquests in the past and this man was certainly the type to make his body respond on an almost visceral level. Even so, he was daunted that just the mere presence of this man could silence two older, able-bodied warriors without so much as a word.

The redhead and the neatly bearded blond both glanced at their leader, then at Loki once more before turning and giving them some space to talk. Thor glanced after them, nodding his gratitude before his eyes moved back to the sprawled out grulla 'mare' that they had found washed up on the river bank, seemingly more dead than alive. She was pretty faced and almost marble-skinned… pale and smooth… but her chest DID lack any sort of suppleness and her human features spoke of a masculinity that her elegant lower form opposed. In his mind all signs and smells pointed to mare … but… the torso and face simply didn't fit what instinct told him. It was perplexing and kept him slightly on edge as he approached, offering the other his hand.

"… That was a hard fall… Do your legs work?"

Loki gave the other a puzzled look, not understanding everything he was saying. The Jotun Prince had taken cultural studies in his youth, but certain clans and languages were not as easily learned as others… and the Asgardians were one such clan he'd always had difficulty with.

'I…don't understand…' he whispered with a slight skip in his breath, his heart still hammering behind his ribs, making his voice short and tight.

Thor blinked at the others words, having not heard the rune language spoken except by the clan elders. Still, he knew enough of it to manage a coherent reply.

'…Legs… You can stand?' he mumbled roughly, the old sounds feeling heavy and foreign on his tongue. Seeing Loki's eyes brighten with amazement and relief however brought a small, prideful smile to his lips as he held his hand out again. 'Come now… Stand.'

Loki reached up to take the other's offered hand, trying to figure out how to work four legs instead of two. He frowned, feeling foolish as his first two attempts failed and dropped him back onto the dirt, Thor watching him with concern that this stranger might have broken or lost the use of her legs. The brawny blond glanced back at his companions with a disapproving glare as Fandral chuckled, commenting that the unknown centaur looked as feeble as a newborn on wobbly legs. The bearded male quieted at Thor's narrowed gaze, but his amused smirk remained all the same, even Volstagg shaking his head at Loki's failed attempts to rise.

The other's amusement in his failings made Loki's face burn with frustration and embarrassment. He tried again, rolling onto his equine chest and placing his hands on the ground instead to try and hoist himself up, but the position was too awkward and his lower half too heavy to prop up with just his arms, especially with his front legs now tucked under his chest, pinned between his body and the ground. He felt an angry, panicked sob building in his chest and rolled onto his side again, feeling miserable and worthless. He'd gotten to his feet so easily when he'd awoken and rose to defend himself, so WHY was it so hard now?!

Thor furrowed his brow as he watched Loki's attempts fail over and over, as though he were trying to throw all his weight and balance onto only two legs, leaving the other two to drag him down. It was indeed how newborn foals floundered as they tried to rise for the first time and balance on uncertain legs. He slowly walked a circle around the dark black and grey colored mare, examining Loki before pausing once more at his head and reaching down to take both of Loki's arms in his strong, callus hardened hands.

'Start with back… lift ass. I pull you up…'

He spoke in broken runic, the words coming out rough and somewhat fragmented, but that fact that Loki could at least understand him and that he was trying his best to communicate is what made all the difference. Still… Loki had to give him a puzzled look, wondering if he'd truly heard the other man correctly.

'Y-You want me to… lift my ass in the air?!'

Thor nodded, bracing his powerful legs and giving Loki's arms a light tug to show that he'd be pulling from the front when the other was ready.

'Lift now. Get hooves under you… Balance first, I lift.'

He held the other steady at the front as the dark haired centaur carefully rocked onto her belly and seemed to have to concentrate on moving only her back legs, lifting herself so her rump was poised high in the air and her front end rested on her curled legs.

A catcall and appreciative hoof stomp from Fandral made Thor look in the direction of his companions and scowl at their behavior. Valstagg lifted his meaty hands in pure innocence, glancing at their womanizing friend who hardly looked apologetic at all. If anything, Fandral seemed to be checking out the mare's arched back end with lecherous intent.

Loki felt his face burn at the obvious harassment but focused on the task of getting himself upright. He felt steady on his back legs and looked up at Thor, gripping his arms in return as the blond tugged upwards, allowing Loki to unfold one front leg and push himself onto all four properly. Once up, Loki tottered slightly, but instinct took over and each long leg shifted and repositioned themselves on their own to equally distribute his weight. It was so foreign, feeling four limbs move beneath him, but he found that by NOT over-thinking it, his new body seemed to get along just fine on its own.

Thor made sure the stranger was steady before letting go and looking Loki up and down with an approving nod.

'Better now... Steady, yes?'

'Yes, t-thank you... I'm sorry to be so much trouble... But this...' Loki gestured at himself, shaking his head in disbelief. '...This is so unnatural for me!'

The longer haired blond seemed puzzled by this, looking at his companions, then at the peculiar mare again.

'Unnatural?'

The young Jotun frowned, knowing this was not going to be an easy thing to explain, especially with limited communication between them.

'Yes... I'm... I'm not like you. I'm not a centaur I mean. I'm a man... A HUMAN man!'

This only seemed to perplex Thor further as he looked over Loki, his eyes taking in everything with intense scrutiny; pausing at the sharper line of his jaw, his throat, down his chest to his flat abdomen. The heavy warrior even glanced over to the side to look along the length of Loki's new equine form and, quite embarrassingly, even under his body, his gaze leaving no doubt at what part of his anatomy Thor was looking at before lifting his head with a snort.

'...Not human... NOT man. Mare.' He stated plainly, giving his long equally golden tail a light swish behind him.

Loki frowned, realizing with a clearer state of mind now that when his spell had backfired on him, his body had been fused with Sigyn's... and Sigyn was a mare... Which meant his lower half did not match his upper half, making him half man-half mare. He sighed hard, pinching the brow of his nose before shaking his head, knowing this was going to be nearly impossible to make these warriors understand.

'No, not a mare! I am a human man and I was transformed! Magic changed me into this!'

He gestured at himself again, trying to make the situation as clear as possible. Thor knew of magic... but he'd never heard of a human changing into a centaur. Certainly not one of mixed gender! It was all very suspect really, and Thor didn't like the idea of someone using magic to make more of his kind! The Asgardians were a proud, strong, and noble race. The thought of someone simply creating more of them on a whim from a mere human and his horse was an insult and an outrage!

Where Thor's earlier kindness and patience had been, anger and distrust took root and the large warrior flexed his hands into fists at his side, his large form stepping into Loki's personal space, forcing the slimmer built man to step back awkwardly, lest they end up chest to chest.

'Magic? Who has magic?! Why change you?! Not centaur, NOT Asgardian! Who then?!'

Loki gasped at the other's thunderous tone and sudden change in demeanor, his brows furrowing as he continued to take several unsteady steps backwards. Thor's sudden fury drew the attention of his companions and they turned to back up their leader, flanking the blond stallion at either side to corral Loki between their tightening ranks and the river that lay just downstream of their camp.

The Jotun's first instinct was to turn and flee into the cold rapids, and had he been human, he would have. He didn't have any weapons on him and chanting a spell would take too long and most likely only get him killed faster with how much these men seemed to dislike magic users. The fact that he was still only learning to stand and walk left no doubt in his mind that a swim in the river would kill him this time for sure… This only left the option of trying to stand his ground against the three hulking, murderous-looking Asgardians around him.

Swallowing his fear and ignoring the hammer of duel hearts in both his chests, Loki stopped his timid retreat and held his ground, trying to lengthen his torso and look as tall and undaunted as possible.

'I am the one who cast the spell… I changed myself by mistake. It was not my intention to end up like this!'

Fandral and Volstagg both glanced at each other with bewildered expressions, having not been part of the conversation until that moment. Thor however only grew more incensed.

'You have magic, you change back! No human play warrior!'

'Well if you'd back off and give me a moment I will!' Loki snapped back, growing irritated at being yelled at over something he hadn't intended in the first place.

Thor snorted and stopped approaching, holding his hands out at his sides to call off his companions as well, but none of them moved away, instead keeping close to Thor and pinning wary eyes on the man-mare.

Letting out his breath in a low, exasperated huff, Loki turned himself sideways to the trio, wanting to concentrate and not think about their disapproving glares. He closed his eyes, taking slow breaths to calm his racing pulse and feel his body as a whole now. Loki had transformed himself many times, but never half way, and never as a fusion with another beast. He couldn't risk simply tearing himself out of Sigyn and leaving her headless or worse! He needed to find the point within where the magic had gone wrong and their bodies knit together, like looking for a misplaced thread in a vast tapestry.

The low, magic infused runic slipped softly from his lips, almost like a sigh, as he began the spell, internally weaving his way between the feelings of 'self' and those of 'Sigyn'. It was slow going, but at first it seemed to be working, a warm, crawling tingle flowing along his skin and the nerves just beneath. But as Loki moved to their 'hearts', the spell coiling around their essence within… their very souls… Sigyn's body suddenly gave a painful lurch as if struck hard and the agony of her pain radiated outward into Loki with such suddenness and force that the Jotun Prince cried out and staggered hard, having to clutch a tree trunk to keep himself standing on quivering legs, his breath catching in sharp gasps.

Something was terribly wrong inside! The spell had combined them not only in body, but spirit as well, and to tear apart that bond, even gently, was like the stab of death's icy blade itself!

Loki stood aghast against the tree, his eyes wide in horror and skin pale from pain, the muscles along his equine flank spasming in small uncontrollable shudders. The Asgardians had jerked back at Loki's second unexplainable fit, not knowing what sort of dark magic he was playing with. It was Thor who once again approached cautiously as Loki stopped chanting and stood helplessly clinging to the tree, noticing the scared, panicked look in his evergreen eyes. As he drew closer the large draft felt himself stop dead when those eyes came up to focus on his own; the helpless, utterly vulnerable view of a soul bared to him and pleading for answers he simply could not begin to give wiping out all anger from his mind.

Slowly, Thor closed the distance between them and reached out to cup Loki's pallid face in one strong, warm hand, his brows furrowed with silent questioning.

Loki felt himself teetering on the edge of madness and despair as he looked into eyes that had been a violent storm moments before and now looked at him with what could only be muddled concern. He knew this large male needed answers to explain the unexplainable… but there was only one thing Loki knew for sure. Only one answer he could give…

'…I can't… change back.'

-TBC-


End file.
